I had always been used to having musical instruments to hand, at home, all the time. Grew up with it. And as a teenager, the guitar propped up against the bedroom door made a great early warning system of Parent Entering Room !

So, it came as rather a shock that my decidedly non-musical, and now decidedly ex- husband didn't like the guitar reclining in the living room and kept moving it to the spare room until in the end I gave up the battle and it stayed up there for years, and I played and sang less and less as the real me disappeared.

Now, in my own place, I can be myself again. Not just a guitar now, but mandolin, keyboard, whistles, bodhran and my daughter's bongos, flute, clarinet, recorders all to hand. I'm sure I've missed a few out, too.

Apart from the fact that you can just pick something up for the odd 10 minutes here and there through the day, it's great when people come to the house. A couple of days ago, my daughter's schoolfriend who plays violin came over and had a go on a mandolin for the first time ever - lovely to see her delight that she knew the fingering and could play tunes on it straight away !

It was a simple enough question, Bob 53, but, as they say : "every picture and every guitar-on-a-stand tells a story" - and this is mine.

- jeanie